Nearly Quarter of European Homes Have Cut their Landline

Published on: 26th Jun 2008

Note -- this news article is more than a year old.

An EU wide survey of 27,000 households has revealed the emergence of new consumption patterns in telecoms services in Europe. Technological progress and competition have brought more choice to European consumers as almost a quarter (24%) of households have given up their fixed telephone in favour of mobile phones while 22% of them are using their computer from home to make phone calls over the Internet.

In an increasing number of Member States, European households are using
wireless access to connect to the Internet, via mobile or satellite networks.
Meanwhile, 29% of European households buy bundled telecoms and media packages,
an increase of nearly 10% since last year.

Nevertheless, the top priority for consumers in this fast evolving
environment remains the quality of services.

The key findings of the survey:

Users are increasingly switching from fixed to mobile phones with around
24% of EU 27 households just using mobile. The proportion is significantly
higher in the new Member States (39%) than in the EU 15 (20%), with the
exception of Finland (61%) and Portugal (48%). In some Member States this
increase is accompanied by an increased use of wireless access to the
Internet via the mobile phone network or satellite (Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Austria and Italy).

22% of European households with Internet connections now use their PC for
making phone calls. This figure is twice as large in Latvia (58%), Lithuania
(51%), Czech Republic (50%), Poland (49%) and Bulgaria (46%).

29% of European households buy two or more telecom and media products from
a single service provider (an increase of 9% since winter 2007), the
combination of fixed telephony and Internet access being the most common.

Almost half of European households have access to the Internet (49%) and
an increasing majority enjoy a broadband connection (36% of EU 27, an
increase of 8% since winter 2007). Most connected households access the
Internet via an ADSL line (59%, an increase of 4% compared to last year).
The main reason quoted for not having an access at home remains the lack of
interest in Internet (50% of respondents).

22% of European households have difficulty contacting their Internet
service provider about connection problems. A similar number said the cost
of the support they get is not affordable.

One in four mobile users is not always able to connect to the mobile
network to make a phone call. 28% are sometimes cut off.

More households are receiving digital terrestrial television: an increase
of 5% since winter 2007 to now 12% of EU 27 households. The share of
households with analogue television reception via an aerial has fallen from
45% to 41%.

One in ten EU households receives television by more than one means
(aerial, cable, satellite, Internet). The figure is even higher in France
(25% of households), UK (22%), Italy (19%), Sweden (19%), and Cyprus (16%).

The survey was conducted with a sample of 27,000 representative households
from 27 countries, from November to December 2007.